Adventures of a Flatbedder at Roehl

So unloaded at the new CAT plant in Griffin, GA. Had to wait until they closed down for the day (3PM) before they would unload me. I also met up with another Roehl driver that loaded at the same location the day before. We just so happened to be running the same routes... for the last 3 days. So after unloading we got routed AGAIN to the same location in Eastaboga, AL.

Loaded on Saturday morning in Eastaboga. Wasted 45 minutes playing with 2k lb overweight on the drives. The loader moved the load twice before we moved enough weight to play with the tandems. Man I hate curtains, but it is what it is. Yes, we could have moved them before, but having them move the weight was the better option, except for him not moving it enough the first time.

Headed to Arcadia, WI now and hopefully miss the snow and ice. If not, then 0700 on Monday may be difficult. Did almost 600 miles today and need another 500 tomorrow. Guess we'll see what happens.

Sorry, I'm tired and rambling so.. off to bed.

 

Well, easy unload in Arcadia, except for the 3 hour wait. Didn't really mind it though as I am running low on hours.
Dead headed up to Marshfield to drop trailer that needed some TLC. Went over to Mid-State to get the Truck some TLC... In and out in 15 minutes. Guess that malfunction light was nothing. Although I now have a working compass again. #### electronics!!
Gonna sit the night in Marshfield and hopefully have something out in the morning.

 

Got a load to pickup in Saukville again. Had to go to Appleton to pick up an empty first. Got to Appleton, got the empty and headed to Saukville. OH MY, at least 10+ trucks in line.
Got loaded pretty quick, got there at 1PM and had 2 PM appointment time. Started loading at 2:30 so I can't complain. This load was a two stopper, Holly, MI and Warren Michigan. Got to Holly at noon on Wednesday and then waited for 6 hours to unload. Man they are slow there. I was first Roehl truck in line and 4 more were somewhere behind me when I finally unloaded. After unload, drove 12 miles to a Rest Area for the night. Appointment on Wed is for 7 AM and they are only open from am to 1pm. So got there at about 6:30 and unloaded pretty quick with the other 3 Roehl trucks that were there.
So next load was for me to meet a driver at the I-80/I-280 Pilot. Gonna relay his load to MN and he gets my flat to head home to Detroit.
So this morning I dropped the first two tractors at their stops in Rochester and Goodhue, MN. The second tractor wasn't what the consignee order and didn't match the BOL, except for model and serial number. It was missing the front loader and mounts. Not so fun moment their but they accepted it and will work with mfg and probably Roehl to get it fixed.
Now home for the weekend before delivering in Bmedji, MN on Monday morning. Got my preplan for a HAY load on Monday. OH that is going to be fun!

So, does anybody know the FM Jacob? Apparently, Jim my FM has left Roehl. So now I get a new FM.

 

I have been there once in my 3 months with Roehl, but I also live up North in MN, not Texas.

 

Amazing how hard it is to find Free Internet these days... I know the big truck stops charge for it, but you got to love the small guys who give it away for free. THANK YOU!!
So, I started out Monday morning at 4am in Saint Paul heading to Bemidji, MN. Got there at 10am unloaded really quick and waited for my preplan to come thru. Had qualcomm and then call the new FM to get it going so I could get moving. Lost 45 minutes right there.
I get my load, Hay, out of Greenbush, MN. Call the shipper, what fun, its a 3rd party load and the seller has no idea where its going or even that I am coming. So I get up there and then go 11 miles farther to Badger, MN to scale. Oh, the load is closer to Badger as well. (Roehl probably doesn't get their 12 miles paid either.) Get scaled, 31300 with this old steel stepdeck, loaded, 45440, of hay. Could have taken two maybe 3 more bundles by the seller ran out of hay. So I call the guy, what do you got? Trailer not full? Your not overhanging? How many bundles? Alright, just go! "CLICK" Man, what a total ###! The seller was saying the guy was really cool, but after that conversation @#$% HIM
Now the really cool part, NO BOL! Shipper doesn't know where its going and says, $%^ doesn't like paperwork so this is all you get. The weight ticket. Great now I need to do a generic BOL. ####, new truck and I can't find the few blank ones I thought I had. Send a message to night dispatch to advise cause I can't find one. I get a stupid dumb ### response, you have to have one. Well YEA I know that Genius that is why I was asking. Second response basically saying same thing and that I need to get one. HHMMM, I am in BFE with no truck stop that I can go right over and just buy one. So now my time is running really close. I have to get moving to hit the only "truck" stop nearby. About 90 miles away and I got 90 minutes to do it. Great, here we go 63 MPH truck. FYI... Made it as time expired.
So I check the truck stop, no blank BOL. I search the truck and find an old duplicate copy of a previous BOL that I used. I use whiteout to cover everything up and make a generic BOL, problem solved. Hope it works tomorrow morning for delivery near Green Bay.